Tuesday, May 19, 2009

The Online Romance

The Online Romance are based in Portland, OR and my friend Jack Saturn is their leader, organizer, and singer- songwriter. I have known Jack for a long time. He used to live in San Francisco and worked for a Dot-Com of some sort. He told a story of being out of work and living in his old employer's offices and listening to Dear Nora tracks over and over. He eventually moved to Portland and has become a main stay. His good friend Sharin moved into the Magic Marker house near the tail end of its existence before we all moved out. He is at every show I go to and is always up to something. As I understand it Jack didn't know he could sing until he started doing karaoke which wasn't that long ago. I am not exactly sure what has made the process take so long but they have had a myspace since 2004 and yet they have only released a single. Well Jack emailed me a few months ago about posting a song and I am happy to do that. What ever the wait was it from the sound of the new songs it seems like he has gotten them exactly the way he wants them. I know he is a fan of all things 60's british/pastoral and I am excited to hear the finished product.

The Online Romance - "Ladybug Don't Smile"

Also check out their myspace for more.

1 comment:

Jack / TOR said...

Curt, thanks for posting this. Your write up made me chuckle to myself — it's kind of like that game of Telephone where things get exaggerated! Here's clarification on a few points in your mini-history:

I never lived at the startup I worked for in SF; I may have spent the night there once or twice — listening to Dear Nora, no doubt — but I always had an apartment while I was still in the city.

Learning I could sing actually came much earlier than karaoke — I was picked from all the boys in my 5th grade class to be part of a duet of "The Greatest Love Of All" by Whitney Houston, which was sung at my "5th grade graduation." Discovering karaoke sure cured me of lingering stage fright in my 20s, though.

The delay of TOR's recordings could fill a novel, so I'll spare the story, but there *will* be an album done, even if it's not heard until 2019 or so. Thank you for being so supportive!